CuteGeek

I have to admit I have never been into a Sony store! I may be a geek but I am from Texas, land of massive department stores, so now being in San Francisco I have many other options.  So I had the Sony Style Experience at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco.

I was greeted right away by a lovely sales representative named Rachel who had on some cute shoe’s (more proof geeks can be super cute)!  After telling her that I was interested in a small video camera, she quickly directed me to the Webbie display, and instantly I was mesmerized.  For such a small camera and low price point ($199), it was AWESOME!  Plus I got the eggplant color and you have to love the BOLD color personalization.  As of now the Webbie comes in 3 colors, eggplant, orange and silver.  In spring 2009 they will have a new Webbie that is vertical and features a swiveling lens that can swivel up to 270 degrees.

Seriously, Rachel was probably one of the best sales ladies I have dealt with.  Her up-sales seemed reasonable and frankly necessary, accessories is where it’s at.  She also gave me a tour of the showroom and showed me the smallest Sony Vaio netbook that was displayed at CES.  I have to be honest, it’s rare when you walk into a store and the sales person actually knows about the product in full detail.  How many times have you been in a major electronic store and you know more about the product than they do?  Annoying!

SO, enough about the Sony Webbie HD buying experience; what is this new toy all about?!  First off it weighs a nice 7oz. (210g) with dimensions of 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch. (www.sonystyle.com). Five seems to be the theme with the 5 mega pixel still camera and 5X optical zoom. Also the camera comes with a built-in LED light so you can film or snap photos at night or low light settings (I recently used this at ladies night in a dark club and it works great).

The un-boxing was a fun experience with its nice sleek box and easy to follow instructions.  Opening the package for the first time was thrilling, there laid my perfect little purple Webbie camera with all its components.  The software for the camera was simple and easy to use especially for editing your videos.  One thing I do have to comment on is that the wrist strap included doesn’t match the different colors, it’s just a drab grey color, therefore I don’t use it…I hope there are other colors in the future to choose from.

 Also this product is very simple to use; once the LCD is opened the camera is on and ready to shoot (how many times in life have we missed a great shot b/c the dang camera took too long to start recording?!).  All the buttons are straight forward and not hard in the least bit to figure out (especially since they are well labeled).  I have taken my Sony Webbie to dance class, wine tasting in Napa, a concert, and in my home for other product un-boxings (or rocking out on Rockband); needless to say it’s been a great investment!

Other features this camera has is that it has built-in Picture Motion Browser software in which you can Upload media files from the camera to various photo websites (ie: YouTube, Picasa, Shutterfly, etc…) or import media files from the camera to Picture Motion Browser on the computer.

My favorite thing about this is that I can use my Memory Stick PRO Duo media card in my Playstation3 to watch the video instead of wires which I hate!! (A/V Connecting cables, Component A/V Cables and USB cable are included)

In my video of someone apparently trying to bust me steal a flower (which I didn’t, I know better!), notice the flowers and how crisp they are. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxEshTyQELM )The HD feature on this makes any picture (even though a little shaky) look amazing. In the next photo my girls and I played “find the Webbie” in a picture of ladies night.  Look how stylish we look holding it.

If it’s not obvious I love this new toy and think this product is perfect for moms, bloggers, paparazzi (I actually saw a lady paparazzi using my exact camera on one of those entertainment gossip shows) and basically anyone that wants a light snap camera to record your life events in HD.

I am so happy with my Webbie that I recomended it to our Editor for our 5 Diamond award, and after we discussed it she agreed, so the Sony Webbie is our first ever 5 Diamond Award winner and eligible for our Editors Choice Award at the end of the month!